AL AL - John McHan Jr., 22, & David Martin, 31, West Jasper, 29 Aug 1983

[Gardener1850]

No Picture

John Eugene McHan Jr.
Walker County, Alabama
22 yr old White Male

Height: 69 inches
Weight: 142 lbs

Hair color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Clothing: Unknown

SUBJECT LAST SEEN LEAVING HIS RESIDENCE IN WALKER C0UNTY IN THE CITY 0F JASPER WITH HIS BR0THER IN LAW DAVID MARTIN(ALS0 MISSING)(NamUs MP 23404) IN A 1973 D0DGE CHARGER WHITE IN C0L0R, VEH WAS LATER F0UND (09/13/83) BURNED IN JAGGER LAKE IN WALKER C0UNTY

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/28901/

David Martin
31 year old white male
Height: 68 inches
Weight: 135 lbs

Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown

It was 30 years ago that David Martin left his home in West Jasper to travel to Nauvoo. David’s burned out Dodge Charger was found near a Nauboo strip mine two days later, but he has never been seen. The young Walker County man helped take care of his ill mother, and family says he would never have left the area willingly.


https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/23404/0/

 

[madamx]

its weird that nobody could provide a hair color or eye color for the sisters husband BUT they know his height and weight?

 

[Gardener1850]

its weird that nobody could provide a hair color or eye color for the sisters husband BUT they know his height and weight?

I think it's odd that John's profile mentions he was with his brother-in-law but David's profile makes no mention of John at all. David's case was entered in 2014 but John's was not added until 2015. I wonder who wrote up the circumstance descriptions? Maybe the person who added John's profile a year later knew David but didn't know the brother-in-law very well? IDK. I was surprised this case was not here already. Circumstances sound really suspicious. JMO.

 

[madamx]

https://lostandfound.revealnews.org...&end_date=12/31/1984&unidentifiedperson=15196

ate found
Dec. 30, 1984
Age
35 to 50 years old
Sex
Male
Race
White
Ethnicity
Unsure
Circumstances
Skeletal remains were discovered by two men riding trial bikes along a large power line trail in a wooded area.

Address 1
200 block of Industrial Drive
Address 2

City
Birmingham
County
Jefferson
State
Alabama

 

[Gardener1850]

According to SS death records John McHan Jr. was listed as deceased in Aug 1983.
He was born in Barberton, OH and had a previous name of John Eugene Harper:

John Eugene Harper
[John Eugene McHan Jr]
[John McHan]
Gender:Male
Race: White
Birth Date: 29 Jun 1961
Birth Place: Barberton, Ohio
Death Date: Aug 1983
SSN: *************
Notes: Dec 1971: Name listed as JOHN EUGENE HARPER; 19 Dec 1980: Name listed as JOHN EUGENE MCHAN JR; 04 Jan 1988: Name listed as JOHN MCHAN

Maybe someone can find a yearbook picture of John under his birth name of Harper?

 

[Gardener1850]

David has a findagrave.com memorial page that lists his death as Aug 1982 and details his disappearance and has a plea from his sister: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96115840

From that page:

DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO DAVID?
~~~

-Sister still hopes for answers in brother's disappearance-

It has been almost 30 years since Jasper, Alabama resident Martha Parker saw her little brother, but she continues to hold out hope that someone knows what happened to him on Aug. 29, 1983.

Parker was the last person to see her brother, David Martin, and she said last week that she would give anything to be able to go back to that day.

"He came by my house and wanted to talk, but I was too tired and told him I would talk to him the next day," Parker said with tears in her eyes. "I just wish I could go back and talk to him one more time. It hurts so bad to not be able to tell him that I love him or tell him goodbye."

Martin went missing on Aug. 29, 1983. That afternoon he left his West Jasper home with a friend in a Dodge Charger. The men were headed to Nauvoo to sell blue jeans.

Parker said the family was gravely concerned as early as that evening. Martin's mother had a broken leg at the time, and he was always home before dark to take care of her, Parker said.

A few weeks later, the Dodge Charger was found in a strip pit near Nauvoo. It had been set on fire twice, once with gasoline and once with diesel fuel.

The family filed a missing persons report, but no leads to Martin's whereabouts could be established -- something that hasn't changed over the years, Parker said.

"We've had a few leads over the years, but we haven't heard anything new in a long time," she said.
Parker said that she contacts various news agencies each year on the anniversary of Martin's disappearance, because she feels that someone out there knows what happened to her brother.

"He was a good little fella," she said as her voice trembled. "He would give you the last penny in his pocket or the shirt off his back."

Parker said she hopes that years of guilt will finally weigh too heavy on those who know the location of Martin's remains.

"I don't care about revenge," she said. "I just want to go to the graveyard and tell my mother we found him."

"We're just begging that someone would come forward and tell us something," she said. "I love my brother. We know he's gone, but we'd like to know what happened. It would give us some closure."

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96115840

 

[madamx]

David has a findagrave.com memorial page that lists his death as Aug 1982 and details his disappearance and has a plea from his sister: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96115840

From that page:


https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96115840

oh that is just so heartbreaking.. I feel so bad for his sister who did not speak to him the night before he disappeared.

 

[madamx]

I think it's odd that John's profile mentions he was with his brother-in-law but David's profile makes no mention of John at all. David's case was entered in 2014 but John's was not added until 2015. I wonder who wrote up the circumstance descriptions? Maybe the person who added John's profile a year later knew David but didn't know the brother-in-law very well? IDK. I was surprised this case was not here already. Circumstances sound really suspicious. JMO.

yes its strange because if he is the brother in law he must be married to his sister and there is mention of a sister looking for him so it would be another sister.. wouldn't she know the hair color and eye color of her husband?

 

[madamx]

According to SS death records John McHan Jr. was listed as deceased in Aug 1983.
He was born in Barberton, OH and had a previous name of John Eugene Harper:

John Eugene Harper
[John Eugene McHan Jr]
[John McHan]
Gender:Male
Race: White
Birth Date: 29 Jun 1961
Birth Place: Barberton, Ohio
Death Date: Aug 1983
SSN: *************
Notes: Dec 1971: Name listed as JOHN EUGENE HARPER; 19 Dec 1980: Name listed as JOHN EUGENE MCHAN JR; 04 Jan 1988: Name listed as JOHN MCHAN

Maybe someone can find a yearbook picture of John under his birth name of Harper?

oh this is even weirder.. he was immediately listed as deceased in Aug 1983 but then in Aug 1988 he has a different name? he has a couple of different names... something is suspicious.. do you think this brother in law is the one involved in David's disappearance and living under yet Another name?

 

[madamx]

could it have been possible he ended up in Tenn.. I found charred and burned remains...that caught my eye.. height and weight off but I thought I would post

https://lostandfound.revealnews.org...3&end_date=12/31/1985&unidentifiedperson=5255

ate found
Nov. 28, 1984
Age
26 to 33 years old
Sex
Male
Race
Unsure
Ethnicity
Unsure
Circumstances
No further information.

County
Crockett
State
Tennessee

Body condition
Not recognizable - Charred/burned
Post-mortem interval
Not specified
Estimated age
Adult
Weight
107 lbs
Height
70 inches

 

[Gardener1850]

oh this is even weirder.. he was immediately listed as deceased in Aug 1983 but then in Aug 1988 he has a different name? he has a couple of different names... something is suspicious.. do you think this brother in law is the one involved in David's disappearance and living under yet Another name?

The 1988 date may be when his family actually had him declared deceased by the court or it may be when they finally closed out his estate in probate court. It's possible that it only shows up as a name update because they left off the Jr in paperwork somewhere. I have seen a number of SSD records for people declared deceased long after being missing and it is not unusual to have a name update sometime after the death date. It's a little unusual that his name was changed when he was 19 years old but I think I figured out that the Harper surname was his mother's maiden name. I found a birth record. I tlooks like he was born under the name McHan but registered with SS at around age 10 as Harper. He may have chosen to go with his father's last name officially as an adult (JMO).

Long story short: He may show up in school yearbooks under either name. I tried looking for him as John Harper but it is too common of a name.

 

[Gardener1850]

David has a findagrave.com memorial page that lists his death as Aug 1982 and details his disappearance and has a plea from his sister: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96115840

From that page:


https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96115840

I can't edit but the above date is a typo I made. The findagrave lists him as deceased the same day he went missing in 1983.

 

[Gardener1850]

I found a picture of John McHan from a 1970 yearbook. He would have been about 9 or 10 years old. Here is the link for anyone with an Ancestry account: https://www.ancestry.com/interactiv...ePUB=true&_phsrc=znp11&_phstart=successSource

 

[Gardener1850]

1970 Pentington Highschool Yearbook
Blountsville, AL

(Link to source photo in previous post)

 

[Gardener1850]

yes its strange because if he is the brother in law he must be married to his sister and there is mention of a sister looking for him so it would be another sister.. wouldn't she know the hair color and eye color of her husband?

I'm working on their family tree to see if I can find any more info on these two and how they were connected. I don't think I'm allowed to post info on relatives here, but I'll just say the family dynamics I'm finding are very complicated. I wish someone could find some old newspaper clippings about this case. I have not found anything yet but it had to have been a big story in the local papers back in 1983. A car found burned in a small town and two men missing? There's no way that didn't make the local news. JMO.

 

[Elainera]

oh this is even weirder.. he was immediately listed as deceased in Aug 1983 but then in Aug 1988 he has a different name? he has a couple of different names... something is suspicious.. do you think this brother in law is the one involved in David's disappearance and living under yet Another name?

The name change from Harper to McHan occurred in 1980, if I'm reading this correctly.

But I agree it is weird that he was immediately listed as deceased. ETA: obsolete as Gardener explained above that he was declared decease years later.

 

[raddpt]

I wish we had info on who he was going to sell blue jeans to. If he ever showed up. If that person has a criminal background. If they disposed of the bodies in a strip pit they will likely never be found. Very sad for this family. Makes you think it could have been a robbery gone wrong or a drug deal gone wrong.

 

[raddpt]

I wish we had info on who he was going to sell blue jeans to. If he ever showed up. If that person has a criminal background. If they disposed of the bodies in a strip pit they will likely never be found. Very sad for this family. Makes you think it could have been a robbery gone wrong or a drug deal gone wrong.

 

[madamx]

1970 Pentington Highschool Yearbook
Blountsville, AL

(Link to source photo in previous post)

Gardener1850 Great photo you found there..because it gives you s much better idea of what he teeth looked like.

 

[Coffee56]

Thank you Gardener. I found this one too. Same 1970 Pennington yearbook.